Earth
Earth, known as Terra to the Ancients, Tau'ri to the Goa'uld, or Midgard to the Asgard is one of the most important planets in galactic history. As the cradle of human life and civilisation, Earth is one of the most densely populated planets in the Milky Way Galaxy and is the homeworld of the majority of members of the Stargate Expeditionary Force as well as their predecessors the UKGC and the US SGC. For several thousand years following a rebellion against the Goa'uld, Earth was cut off from galactic affairs and isolated from the wider galaxy. Recently, following an invasion by the Aethernauts and Dagon in 2014, knowledge of the wider Galaxy has been made public. Following the recent collapse of the United Nations, the United Nations of Earth has become the primary political force on Earth. =History= To our knowledge, Earth was an Ancient colony prior to their devastation by an unknown plague, a near-human race, according to ancient lore the Ancients seeded Earth with life after their retreat from the Milky Way Galaxy, the result was the creation of human life. Pre-History Early civilisation on Earth was heavily influenced by extraterrestrial beings, initially in the form of the Ancients, before the arrival of the Goa'uld System Lord Ra in 9177 BC. Fleeing conflict with the Asgard, the heavily injured Ra identified the human population as near-perfect hosts for the Goa'uld and, using a Stargate aboard his vessel, claimed the planet as his own. Goa'uld rule between 9177 BC and 2995 BC Earth (known to them as 'Tau'ri') was the seat of power in the Goa'uld Empire. Many early human civilisations were fostered by the Goa'uld as they divided Earth into territories in order to prevent internal violence between various System Lords risking the precious resource which humanity represented. During this period, the Goa'uld transported millions of humans off of Earth to seed on various worlds capable of supporting human life, as well as augmenting 'worthy' humans into a warrior caste known as Jaffa that would serve as overseers and enforcers to Goa'uld rule. Around 2995 BC, the Goa'uld experienced mass uprisings against their rule by the Tau'ri population, who threw down a number of Goa'uld and their Jaffa servants in the uprising, before burying the Stargate on Earth to prevent the return of these so-called 'Gods'. This period of history soon faded into the Age of Myth, and human civilisation advanced with the Goa'uld fading into mythology, preserved as a pantheon of ancient and wrathful gods. There is some scholarly debate as to whether the Goa'uld are, in fact, the origin of these ancient pantheons, or whether they subsumed pre-existing religions among primitive humans to their needs. Though some Goa'uld continued on Earth as evidenced by the existence of a Goa'uld symbiote possessing the ancient King Math ap Mathonwy in 1200 BC and ruling over the British Isles until that point using a Stargate based at Stonehenge - it is believed that the overthrow of Math and the burying of the Stonehenge Gate represents the end of Goa'uld rule anywhere on Earth. Modern History Human civilisations on Earth flourished and developed over the next three thousand years without the interference of aliens in their development, hundreds of unique cultures developed and flourished on Earth. Humanity would not again make contact with alien life until the end of the 20th Century with the successful activation of a Stargate by the United States Military in 1996. Prior to this humanity had twice successfully (largely accidentally) activated Stargate once in 1895 in the British Museum in London (resulting in the settlement of Inner Britannia) and once in 1939 in Germany (resulting in the creation of the GGR). The initial US expedition through the Stargate initiated a chain of events that brought humanity into conflict with the Goa'uld once more. This conflict has continued for several years with both UKGC and SEF forces becoming embroiled with this as well as other conflicts with hostile alien powers in the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond it. Following an invasion by the Aethernauts and the forces of Dagon in 2013-2015 the population of Earth was made publicly aware of the existence of alien life. The invasion also drastically changed the face of the Earth with multiple nations destroyed damaged by alien vessels. Following this revelation and conflict between the Earth nations, the collapse of the United Nations has led to the creation of the United Nations of Earth (UNE) to govern the planet via a global federal government to which each historical nation of Earth belongs. Earth in the Modern Era See the main Tau'ri page for in-depth details Earth is the most densely populated known human planet in the Galaxy, great cities found barely anywhere in the Galaxy dot its surface, and some nations on Earth have a higher population than most planets in the cosmos seeded with human life by the Goa'uld and other races. However following twenty years of extraterrestrial interaction thanks to the Stargate there have been some significant changes to Earth. The use of terraforming technology on Earth in order to covertly restore damage caused by an artificial solar flare has inadvertently altered the nature of the environment in Africa seeding plant-growth in regions where previously none could exist. In 2013 an artificial Goa'uld-engineered plague ripped through the population of Earth, reducing the population considerably. These events were tiny in comparison to those brought about by the invasion of Earth in 2014. Aethernaut vessels destroyed both Iran and Nicaragua, and a battle between nuclear-armed Space Vessels over China devastated much of the Chinese countryside with nuclear fallout. At the end of the battle for Earth the crash of several capital ships into the North Atlantic caused a tsunami which hit Newfoundland, Greenland and Iceland and then the western coast of Ireland. These incidents were the major damage inflicted upon the surface of Earth, but many population centres suffered from occupation and bombardment, and the Earth still bears many scars from that fight, and has been rebuilding since 2015 and the end of the invasion. Environment Earth's environment is the baseline variance of temperatures needed for human civilisation to flourish, there are few areas of the Earth's service save its icy poles that humans cannot permanently inhabit through their ability to adapt. It is these variable conditions that have ensured such a variety of cultures have emerged on Earth where other planets with less varied atmospheres seem to have produced more monolithic cultures by comparison. Earth is a late-industrial planet and human industry combined with aftermath of recent extraterrestrial conflict has done extensive damage to the environment. Though the UEG has taken steps to limit the impact on Earths environment from future industrialisation, Earth is increasingly reliant on technological solutions to combat climate change. Flora & Fauna Much like human civilisation the plant and animal life on Earth is diverse with millions of species of creature and plant living on the planet. Recent events such as the destruction of Nicaragua and Iran by the Aethernauts have damaged the biodiversity of Earth by causing the extinction of a number of plants and animals in the process of their destruction. Gate Location At varying times in it's history Earth has played host to not one but three different Stargates. During the rule of the Ancients the Stargate was located in Atlantis in Antarctica, following the Ancient's departure from Earth in Atlantis this gate was abandoned and buried beneath the Antarctic Ice, this gate bears the designation of the Beta Gate thanks to the US SGC. This gate was recovered by the US SGC and briefly stolen by the NID before being pressed into service by the US SGC after the temporary loss of the Alpha Gate (see below) before it's destruction by the Goa'uld Anubis. During the rule of the Goa'uld the planetary Stargate was based in Giza in Egypt under the control of Ra, following the uprising against the Goa'uld this gate was buried on the Giza Plateau until 1928 when it was discovered by the German-financed Langford Expedition which recovered it and brought it to Germany. This Gate was later used by the SS Ahnenerbe to mount the expedition that founded the GGR before being captured by US Troops during the invasion of German. This gate was then taken to the United States where it was experimented on during the 1940s by Dr Langford and his daughter Catherine. Before being placed in storage until the 90s when the US Airforce began to examine it's technological capabilities, this led to the first US Stargate expedition in 1996 and the foundation of the US SGC a few years later. Designated the Alpha Gate this gate was later lost over Earth and recovered by the Russians who briefly used it to operate their own Gate Project before eventually returning it to the US SGC. Following the disbandment of the US SGC the Alpha Gate was placed in storage should it ever be required again by the SEF. Both Alpha and Beta Gates were based at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in El Paso County, Colorado in the United States for the duration of their operation by the US SGC. The third gate on Earth is believed to have been planted in the British Isles by the Goa'uld Math ap Mathonwy that claimed ruler-ship over them and remained based at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, United Kingdom until a popular uprising against Math forced the Goa'uld to flee Earth and the Gate to be buried beneath Stone Henge. This gate was rediscovered several years earlier than the Alpha Gate by Victorian archaeologists exploring Salisbury Plane, this gate appears in the records of commentaries by Charles Babbage (1791–1871) and Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872) but did not attract any scientific attention until the late 19th Century where advances in electricity allowed some measure of power to be restored to it whereby it (to observers) consumed several curious individuals from the British Museum (who would late go on to found Inner Britannia). Believing the artefact to be something occult and satanic, British museum officials dubbed it Hob's Gate and buried it within the Museum's archives until the 1930’s, when rumours of its existence reached the ears of Oxford undergraduate, Basil Cauley - wealthy and with National Front leanings Cauley began to explore the gate, but vanished. Following this the Gate was taken under the control of the British Government and taken to Bletchley Park where it would remain until the early 90s as a frustrating curio. This was activated in 1999 by the new-formed United Kingdom Gate Command following information about the existence of the US SGC's operation of their Gate, but was disbanded following an encounter with US SGC personnel to be reformed in 2005 under the auspices of British Intelligence. Since 2005 the Hob's Gate Stargate has been in near-constant use, originally based at a retrofitted facility in Bletchley Park, it has since 2007 been based at a specialised SEF facility MOD Corsham under the control of the British Military, ---- Back to Planetary database Category:Planets